Book Review - 'The Snow Dragon' by Abi Elphinstone (Writer), Fiona Woodcock (Illustrator)

Wow.

What a wonderful, wistful, wishful, winsome, whimsical, wintery fairy tale I discovered by chance in my local library.

'The Snow Dragon' - there is a snow dragon in it, all right. But it is also about a cute, sad little orphan girl, and Christmas and the holidays, and dreams, adventures, bravery, sharing, love, and never giving up hope. And individuality, and defying and rebelling against corrupt and abusive systems. And a dancing sausage dog.

It's a book full of snow, skies, seas, sweetness, wilderness, wishes, wonders, winterfalls, moonlight, mountains, melancholy, miracles and magic. And the Northern Lights.

The story also reminds me of 'The Snowman', 'His Dark Materials', 'Matilda', 'Cinderella', 'The Nutcracker', 'A Little Princess', and 'The Little Prince'.

Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.

'The Snow Dragon' - a new favourite Christmas book, alongside 'Tinsel: The Girls Who Invented Christmas', 'The Christmas Carrolls', 'The Princess and the Christmas Rescue', 'The Little Match Girl Strikes Back', 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', and 'A Christmas Carol'.

I cannot recommend this enchanting fable enough.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Mimi and the Cutie Catastrophe' by Shauna J. Grant

...

...

...



Goodreads takes me to some strange places sometimes.

The stranger, the more obscure and girly, the better.

I couldn't help myself.

So.

'Mimi and the Cutie Catastrophe'

It's cute all right.

Yet, for such a small comic and chapter book made to look cute and appealing, and to teach children to read and follow comic panels, it is surprisingly enjoyable for me, too.

The brilliant, vibrant, bouncy, funny, chibi, manga-esque artwork, the pink and purple colours, the entirely-POC cast of characters, and, other straight facts: the Black little girl protagonist with a flooffy skirt and a Steven Universe T-shirt, Mimi, is a magical girl. She is cute, but she wants to be seen as more than that - "cute" is not her whole personality, and it frustrates her.

She has an outrageously yet serenely adorable little plushie mascot bestie called Penelope, who is magic and can transform Mimi into different outfits. This seems to only effect her outward appearance, not granting her magical powers. Hmm, a be-yourself metaphysical commentary? Or am I reaching in a comic intended for five-year-olds?

I'd like to know the backstory of Mimi and Penelope. How did they meet? How did they become best friends? Was Penelope an ordinary plushie originally, magically given life? What makes Mimi so special as to be gifted a magical, talking plushie, that all of Mimi's friends and family know about and are cool with?

Morals and lessons abound in this story. Good ones for kids to take to heart. Like, be yourself. Be a kid and get dirty! Play with your friends. Help your friends.

Cute or not, 'Mimi and the Cutie Catastrophe' is a fun, sweet little product for the kiddies, by Shauna J. Grant, a Black, pink-and-cute-and-magic-loving author, on a mission to add diversity to the comics community. I especially recommend her 'Mimi' creation to kids who love pink and girly things, and magical girls.

It is like a preschool cartoon. It should be adapted into a preschool cartoon series.

There you have it, a small review for a small book.

How charming, and, heh, cute.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Book Review - 'Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc' by Joe Todd-Stanton

'Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc' - the final (?) book in the 'Brownstone's Mythical Collection' picture book and comic series, and it is indeed a treasure. Something different, unique, and sparkling.

It revolves around Aztec and Mexican mythology, which I am wholly unfamiliar with compared to some other myths and folklore around the world. It is about one of the rogue Brownstone family members - a Brownstone gone bad, as it were, so not all of them were saints, which is surprisingly realistic for a kids' fantasy series - Luna (who is "the most devious Brownstone", according to the blurb... er, okay... odd way to describe a thirteen-year-old, and someone who will obviously be redeemed by the end of this children's book that tells her story).

Luna is a thief (now that I think of it, do the "good" Brownstones ask for or earn the treasures they take to add to their mythical collection, thus making them different to the selfish, greedy Luna?), who works alone, who is only out for herself; defying her adventurer parents and everything they believe in, after a trap on an adventure left them devastated. Luna ends up going on a quest to steal Aztecan treasures from the rain god Tlaloc, tagging along with a young girl, Atzi (what is with the adults in these books being okay with little children going on dangerous quests, and often alone no less), whom she is tricking into helping her, and who just wants to save her people from draught and starvation by appealing to Tlaloc.

You can guess where this is going. Luna - antiheroine and whitehaired Carmen Sandiego - will eventually have a change of heart as she spends more time with Atzi on the epic journey and its many challenges. She will learn many lessons, some more surprising, and subtle, than others.

But apart from the protag's character development, 'Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc' is an action-packed, high-octane, tense, grand adventure story. It's like an 'Indiana Jones' movie meets a modern Disney movie meets a Studio Ghibli movie. Hm, the overall 'Brownstone's Mythical Collection' could easily be compared to Studio Ghibli, actually.

Luna and Atzi - two girls, two heroes, polar opposites, and they work great together. This book is a feminist masterpiece.

I wish we could have gotten to know Azti better, however; equal to how much backstory and characterisation Luna receives. Atzi is a goodhearted, altruistic, trusting little girl, and that's all I can say about her.

I think the last page, showing her with her parents, implies she has two mothers, as both parents appear to be female. Atzi belongs to a big community and family, and the two women standing with her at the end are shown to be the most important to her. Speculative, squinty, barely-there LBGTQ+ rep in a children's picture book isn't good enough nowadays - it should never be good enough, to be left at that - but in this case, I can graciously forgive it, as everything else is so good.

Beautiful illustrations, deep, clever, witty writing, and awesome female rep, action, fantasy and exploration, 'Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc' is a treat for all ages, like the other 'Brownstone's Mythical Collection' books I've read, 'Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx' and 'Kai and the Monkey King'.

Now I wish I could read about the stories of the other "rogue" Brownstones in Professor Brownstone's gallery. The pictures of people on the walls look extremely interesting. Such colourful, eclectic characters are drawn in! Some appear to be witches, as well as action heroines - I'd like for there to be books about them! And are there vampires?! Why nothing on them?!

But I'm afraid that's it for the series, for now. Darn.

Relevant closing quote from the end of 'Luna and the Treasure of Tlaloc':


'This is the story of Luna Brownstone. I hope she has shown you that no matter who you think you are, you always hold the power within you to change. And that helping others and being kind to those you love is a reward much more valuable than the rarest treasure [...]'


Links to my reviews of:

'Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx'

'Kai and the Monkey King'


Final Score: 4/5

Book Review - 'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Princess and the Pea' by Abie Longstaff (Writer), Lauren Beard (Illustrator)

I finally got my final 'The Fairytale Hairdresser' book to review, and what do you know, it's cute.

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Princess and the Pea' manages to make one of the most bizarre, baffling, bland, pointless, farcical, and possibly, theoretically satirical fairy tales ever, a fun little read. In this version of Hans Christian Andersen's tiny tale, the "princess", who is not actually a princess but a globetrotting explorer and chef, comes into Kittie Lacey's salon, Kittie's Cuts, for shelter from a storm. Her name is Penelope, and she becomes a chef to the prince, Peter, and his mad, "magic pea" obsessed mother, for the Royal Food Festival - this is how the couple meet and fall in love, through their shared love of food.

Food is a major theme in the story; it is not just about a pea.

Also there's a wicked witch who wants to marry the prince. She is thwarted by Kittie way too quickly and easily. She is not a threat at all. She is only included for there to be an antagonist in this adaptation of a really, really stupid (but maybe insidiously brilliant?) one-page fairy tale that somehow gets revisited and adapted over and over again to this day.

(Additional detail: the generic wicked witch has a pentagram pendant necklace. What?!)

Still, this adaptation is cute, and Penelope has a personality and big ambitions outside of marrying a prince as her "happily ever after".

However, once again we have the recurring random-royal-families-everywhere-in-Fairyland-of-nowhere-in-particular bit in 'The Fairytale Hairdresser' series, that doesn't come across as creative or a worldbuilding detail, but simply lazy. Prince Peter's mother is only called "the Queen". She kind of resembles a modern British woman of royalty, or a woman in Parliament, and as already mentioned, she is obsessed with a "magic pea" she says she received from fairies at her son's birth, that will allegedly help her find the right girl/princess for him by stuffing it under cushions on a chair. So, just like something a woman of the British Royal family, or in Parliament, would believe in and carry out, then.

This queen's nonsense sounds like something cooked up (pun intended) in her own silly, frazzled, delusional mind, and an unsure, sceptical Kittie seems to agree. Self-awareness of the original tale's out-there premise is the only way it can be adapted, really, and it is appreciated.

I like the detail of the Queen wearing all green (including green eyeshadow), and a necklace that looks like a string of peas, and earrings that look like peas. So she is seriously pea-brained. Nice touch.

This instalment also shows Kittie exhausted from spending all day doing princesses' hair (as they sit on the chair with the cushions with the pea underneath), as Penelope is tired from cooking and baking in the Queen's palace for the Royal Food Festival. Kittie is only human, after all. No matter what, she is willing to go above and beyond for anyone needing her help, whether it be styling hair and outfits, going on adventures, or matchmaking. Even if helping others involves indulging the whims of a queen in need of counselling.

At least in this adaptation of 'The Princess and the Pea', the girl is clearly not a princess, so there's nothing of that "princesses are delicate and overly sensitive and therefore this somehow makes them fit to rule as queens" theme present. No - Penelope wants to explore outside Fairyland, and cook different kinds of food. On her honeymoon, she wants to travel the world, including the Land of Food, which has places with names like "Pesto Palace", "Cookie Island", "Banana Beach", "Candyfloss Forest", "Jelly and Custard Castle", "Spaghetti Junction" and "Balti Bayou".

Other nifty details: Peter also has a green theme to him, and he has a green stripe in his hair. He has a pet rabbit. His garden is full of giant vegetables; a giant pumpkin is one of them, that has mice living in it (a certain fairy godmother would love it). Kittie styles food into each fairy tale characters' hair; like a banana for Mr Gingerbread Man's quiff, fish and chips on the Little Mermaid Coral's head, and a bowl of porridge on Goldilocks's head (I think it's just a headband)! Kittie can be very creative, but there are rare displays of laziness here. Bella and Beau's painting collage of Kittie has found a home on a wall in her salon.

There's an Easter and vegetable theme to the book, too, despite it being set in the summer. There are rabbits, squirrels, and foxes.

Cameos include: Bella and Beau (Beauty and the Beast), Snow White, Alice, Red Riding Hood, Rose (Sleeping Beauty) and Florian, Dr Charming, a giant, unicorns, the Dish running away with the Spoon (a small detail, spotted in a mirror, along with the cow jumping over the moon), the Sugar Plum Fairy, Puss in Boots, Humpty Dumpty (of course!), and much, much more.

Well, that's it. My final 'The Fairytale Hairdresser' review. What a cute, sweet, fun, funny, silly little series, by Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard. It is still for little kids - it isn't too clever, subversive, revolutionary or exciting - but for what these picture books are, they're good and timeless.

Kittie Lacey - the pink-and-purple-haired, blue-topped, belted, white-booted girl herself - is a nice, wonderful protagonist, so kind, helpful, brave, and quick-thinking. She is far more than a hairdresser, though as the series proves, that is a noble profession in of itself, for a fairy tale hero to have. She doesn't need to be a princess or a fairy or any other magical or "important" role in society - she is an ordinary human with talents and skills, plus determination and a kind heart, and those qualities are what make her a hero in all these tales.

Kittie has as many ordinary, obtainable, flexible and accomplished roles and multitasking skills as Barbie. She is an amazing, admirable role model for all people, of all ages.

Here are links to my reviews of the rest of the series for more, in chronological order of publication (not in the order I read and reviewed them):


'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Rapunzel'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Cinderella'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Sleeping Beauty'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Snow White'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Father Christmas'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Little Mermaid'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Sugar Plum Fairy'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Beauty and the Beast'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Aladdin'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Princess and the Frog'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Thumbelina'

'The Fairytale Hairdresser and Red Riding Hood'


To send off:

Happy, hopeful 2025, everyone. Keep thinking, "What would Kittie the Fairytale Hairdresser do?" and what the world would be like if there were more people like her. You can make it happen. You have the power. You have the heart. You have the kindness, courage and self-belief to achieve anything.

You will be okay.

Take care.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Book Review - 'Hilda's World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond' by Emily Hibbs, Jason Chan (Illustrator)

A great "guide" and tie-in book for any 'Hilda' fan.

'Hilda's World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond' is so cute, cosy, exploratory, informative, and richly detailed - everyone who worked on this book outdid themselves and made an exceptional product for the fans. The town life, the places, the buildings, the histories, the traditions, the wilderness, the wildlife, the mysteries, the maps, and beyond - I'd really love to live in this world!

Hilda's World should be a theme park.

Now I just need to watch the third season of the Netflix series of this girl's and her friends' adventures in and around Trolberg, then maybe I'll get every reference here.

The book also, quite hilariously, confirms that Hilda has no last name, from looking at her school report card, which is one of the things/notes/doodles/photos stuck in by Hilda herself, who is one of the aggregators in this, her own "copy" of the "guide" for us to read, containing her own helpful and interesting information. It possibly, intentionally highlights that Hilda is on the autism spectrum. It's a subtle detail added to the plethora of worldbuilding and character facts the book graces us with.

'Hilda's World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond''s only real flaw is it is obviously not an English book and was written and produced by Americans (despite it presumably being published by a British company, Flying Eye Books, based in London), as certain words are spelled differently. Like, it's "favourite", not "favorite", and Hilda's mother is "Mum", not "Mom"! That sounds so wrong.

Otherwise, it is a wonderful, colourful, endearing, sweet, funny treat, to go back to over and over again. It is a must-have if you love and adore 'Hilda' - the Netflix cartoon or any other media of her.

Read also 'Hilda's Sparrow Scout Badge Guide'

Final Score: 4/5

Non-Fiction Book Review - 'Warriors, Witches, Women: Mythology's Fiercest Females' by Kate Hodges (Writer), Harriet Lee-Merrion (Illustrator)

Such an important and interesting info book about all kinds of women in myths, folklore, legends, religions, and the far-off past!

There are so many included in 'Warriors, Witches, Women: Mythology's Fiercest Females' that I'd never heard of before. It's a pleasant and uplifting surprise.

I can hardly name my favourites in a concise list, because all the women are great. All women are great. All women are strong. And different. And unique. And complex, complicated, and full of contradictions. You know, human.

But I will attempt to list the faves anyway:


The Witches (and goddesses): Hecate (a new favourite goddess), Morgan Le Fay, Baba Yaga (she's everywhere now, and that's a good thing), Cassandra (the strongest, most enduring, tragic, relatable and relevant woman of all time?), and White Buffalo Calf Woman.

The Warriors (and goddesses): Artemis (no surprises there), Anath, the Furies (social justice warriors! Beware patriarchy!), and Kālī.

The Bringers of Misfortune: Hel, the Valkyries, the Baobhan Sith, Lilith (yes! resurgence!), Medusa (double yes resurgence!), and the Futakuchi-Onna.

The Elemental Spirits: Tiamat, the Selkies, Mari (the shapeshifting, independent, helpful feminist and matriarchal goddess), the Lady of Llyn Y Fan Fach (she has a lot to teach us about respect, set terms, ultimatums, boundaries, consent, and communication), the Rainbow Serpent, and Mazu (the multitalented, badass, mystical, independent historical woman turned worshipped goddess).

The Munificent Spirits: Tārā (the Wisdom Moon and princess, and a compassionate, passionate, proactive Buddhist/Hindu social justice warrior who gives no shits about the expectations placed on gender), Madderakka (she and her daughter spirits are the patron, homely, earthy, nurturing and comforting goddesses of childbirth and motherhood, and feminism and equal rights), the Moirai (the immortal, organisational, harmonious, ever-present and everywhere Fates), Brigid (the feminine saint and goddess of unconventional lifestyles and of women's health, and abortions, plus an equal rights advocate and a lesbian), Bona Dea (the most little-known, mysterious goddess, almost erased completely from history by whiny, insecure, patriarchal manbabies, who was definitely a cool, independent lady with female worshippers and female-centric events - reclaim her, never overlook her, never forget her and what she represented to women, i.e. freedom from men), Ame-No-Uzume (oh wow! You HAVE to look her up!--er, not like that), Maʽat (Cleopatra, Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Isis, Bastet, and then there's Ma'at - a true Egyptian queen and goddess of equality, and the serene, stoic creator of rules and order from chaos and anarchy), and Mamam Brigitte (a fiery, uninhibited, partying, passionate, compassionate and caring vodou goddess).


Snakes figure a lot into mythology, don't they?

Women have always been rebels. They have always been social justice warriors, knowing what's right and fighting for it; fighting for equality. They have always been strong, smart, independent, instinctual, and self-aware. They have always been loving sisters, in groups.

Women have always been painfully, tragically human.

'Warriors, Witches, Women: Mythology's Fiercest Females' isn't perfectly written. A few times Kate Hodges contradicts herself. Her section on Yennenga shockingly manages to read as conservative and pro-life, and pro-choice, at the same time; it could have been worded better.

In talking about Artemis, Hodges errors in naming a character in pop culture, Katniss Everdeen from 'The Hunger Games', as Katniss Everdee. I hope that is just a typo and not an astounding oversight and display of ignorance. On the subject of pop culture, she references 'Game of Thrones' many times, too.

In quoting Clarissa Pinkola Estés, the author of 'Women Who Run with the Wolves', Hodges just states her name at first, but when quoting her a second time, she refers to her title as well, as Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Consistency is all I'm asking for.

Her chapter on Medusa is surprisingly lacking in sympathy. It glosses over many devastating details about the tragic character and reclaimed feminist icon.

Hardly anything is mentioned about trans and nonbinary identities, bafflingly.

However, despite its flaws, I highly recommend this well researched, powerful, uplifting, inspiring tome, to all women, and mythologists and anthropologists. We all can learn a great many truths from it.

Like the truth that women are, and always have been, and always will be, equal and important to society. They are strong, fantastic and brilliant, as their own unique, multifaceted, individual selves, and as vital saviours of humanity. We are all doomed if we disrespect, subjugate and abuse half the human race. If we see them as in any way inferior, and less than.

Kate Hodges is right - progress and demolishing gender norms, and challenging and changing our attitudes towards gender and the archaic, conservative ideas spung from that, plus kindness, are vital to the future survival of society (from her chapter on the Rainbow Serpent, the Aboriginal, Australian, genderfluid serpent goddess of creation, water, and menstruation).

'Warriors, Witches, Women: Mythology's Fiercest Females' - with a title like that, I was never going to resist it.

It's a keeper in my feminist nonfiction shelf, and a pickup and reminder of how strong, resilient and worth it women and humanity - and I - are, whenever I feel low, depressed and hopeless. Truly inspirational, and a wakeup call.

There too many great quotes for me to choose from and copy for this review. Just read it.

This book about mythology, and learning about the past, especially concerning women, might just save us all.

Final Score: 4/5

P.S. Oh, and the illustrations are nice. But why is the "small-but-terrifying" Moirai, Atropos - The Inevitable, the governor of the future, the death-bringer, the sister who cuts a person's life thread - depicted as a Black woman, when her two sister goddesses of birth and life, are white? I mean, YIKES! How did no one notice and point out how problematic that is?!

Graphic Novel Review - 'Conspiracy of Ravens' by Leah Moore (Writer), John Reppion (Writer), Sally Jane Thompson (Artist, Letterer)

Here it is, my first negative review of 2025, as early as January.

I don't like being negative, but I feel I have to put my honest thoughts on this obscure and unique graphic novel out there. So let's begin.

I first stumbled upon 'Conspiracy of Ravens' in my local library, and then I heard it being described as "Sailor Moon meets Edgar Allan Poe". Now that is an interesting combination and idea.

I'd love to see how it would actually look, because 'Conspiracy of Ravens' isn't it.

Instead, it is a huge mess.

It's a shame, because 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon' has pretty much shaped my entire personality and brain since early childhood - it is one of my biggest fangirl obsessions, and that's not even doing it justice - and I can never resist anything to do with Magical GirlsTM. I also love ravens, and my goth girl side will always have an admiration and appreciation for Edgar Allan Poe.

'Conspiracy of Ravens' is British, too; another reason it seemed made for me.

The plot, in its most basic, unravelled, core description, is:

Fifteen-year-old British boarding schoolgirl Anne Ravenhall has inherited a mansion and estate from her great-aunt, whom she never knew existed until her death. Also from Anne's great-aunt is a locket with a magic stone with a bird on it, that Anne can summon ravens from, and the birds - the conspiracy of ravens - transport her to places. There are other girls in her school, plus girls founded on the outside, with bird stone family heirlooms that give them powers. These mark them as descended from the female members, themselves descended from a legend of a king and a white raven woman, of a supernatural and scientific secret organisation/rookery/dissimulation/superheroine squad, solving spooky cases like Scooby-Doo.

It's a whole lot of weirdness and stuff that makes no sense. Such as:

Everyone is just cool with it? With magic and the supernatural existing? No one appropriately freaks out and has major life crises? They just take it in stride? No one laments about not having a normal life anymore? In being in constant danger and having enemies try to kill them?

Anne Ravenhall, who represents the corvid bird raven (obviously), barely reacts to the first time her locket glows and ravens suddenly appear and carry her off in the middle of the night. She's fine with it all, immediately dismissing the idea of her dreaming it. There's no attempt at rationalising any of it.

One of the magical dissimulation bird girls, Jenny, who represents the jackdaw, is even thrilled by it. She's ecstatic. She can jump high from buildings, perform gymnastics in the air, and is super fast like Sonic the Hedgehog, and she isn't the least fazed.

Hell, one magical girl from the outside, Emily, representing the magpie, is contacted online by Anne and her friend Rebecca, or "Binky", and Emily instantly drops everything to see them and join them in the secret dissimulation headquarters in Anne's great-aunt's old mansion. She takes the whole supernatural spy business in stride, too! Believing everything these complete strangers tell her, in this highly likely kidnapping situation! Emily makes the magical girls' costumes a couple days later. How would she even know them well enough to know their sizes?!

Presenting chatrooms in a positive light, and believing strangers on the internet and going out to meet them just like that - what a fantastic message for a middle grade graphic novel to send to kids!

The closest human reaction to the magic crap happening is from Felicity, the jay of the group (her surname is also Jay, *sigh*, and Jenny is Jenny Dore, *heavy sigh*). Felicity is a popular girl at the boarding school, and at first she refuses to have anything to do with the bird girls, wanting normality. She is the spoiled, classist, stubborn, princess type, and yet I like her more than the other girls, because she is the most realistic and believable out of all of them. But she isn't given nearly enough page time and development for this to mean jack(daw) diddly.

As far as I can tell, Binky is not exactly a member of the dissimulation, as she isn't descended from any of the previous members, nor does she possess a bird stone heirloom. Despite this, she is a member and magical girl, just like that, no questions asked. Is she the crow, the "intelligence" bird, then? Or is that one of the previous dissimulation group's automatons, called Crow? Oh yeah, there are automatons in this "magical-girls-meets-Poe" story. It's... it's a lot. A lot of random, ill-fitting ideas crammed in.

Anyway, Binky has no magical powers, but she is smart, and a librarian and a good researcher and investigator, making her a valuable asset, regardless of bloodline. But still, no thought whatsoever to how she fits in in this conspiracy of ravens?

Does this mirror Binky's place as a scholarship kid at a boarding school full of rich girls? Is it connected to how she had to earn her position instead of inheriting it, without relying on life's cheat code and net safety of privilege? No comment is made on this aspect to Binky's character. Nothing is alluded to it. It is possible that any nepotism-vs- earning-through-hard-work subtext and parallels are accidental.

On that note, the rich girls who bully Binky for being on a scholarship are truly pathetic. Like their parents' money makes them better and superior to her. It is always better (for society) to be a scholarship kid than a trust fund kid. Take that crap on capitalism.

Anyway, another question:

Who is William Adder, the snake man who wants the mansion and magic stones? Where did he come from? How does he know about the stones? What exactly does he want with them? World domination? Are there other snake people - multiple snakes transforming into one human - like him out there? Are there other supernatural animal people out there? Why is no one concerned about this? Why is no one asking these questions?

Additionally, what about the other men who are looking into the mysteries of Anne's great-aunt's mansion, who don't work for the snake man? Are they the police? The military? MI5? MI6? A rival secret intelligence organisation? Insurance salesmen!? Why are they suddenly trusted by the dissimulation by the end? The main man, first introduced at the beginning, is a "Colonel" Barnabus, but that's the most we'll ever know about him. Barnabus and his force only appear in, like, seven pages tops, and they don't do anything! We don't know who they are or what they do or anything!

I know I am being rather vague about 'Conspiracy of Ravens', and I will try not to spoil its ending - but really, all this is because I am confused and don't know what's going on in the comic. I don't even know

what happened at the end! It's so rushed and weird.

Like, in the past, in the early 1900s, the magical dissimulation spy organisation also had automaton members. Sentient automatons that are so advanced they speed past steampunk and into a future in technology we can't even begin to imagine yet. Are they powered by magic?

How do magic and science and technology work together in this book? It's random and hokeypokey.

It's lazy writing, and lazy worldbuilding; worldbuilding that is so haphazard it seems to exist like barely-standing, crumbling pillars, and scattered scaffolding, not able to hold up the story and characters and character motivations much longer.

One example of bad, random worldbuilding detail is: near the beginning, Binky researches and explains the legend of the king and the white raven, which is the foundation of the magical girl/spy/superhero dissimulation (and its mansion and headquarters are where the king's castle once stood). The story goes: the king is given a magic crown by his beloved white raven queen, that he uses to defeat his enemies. The crown seems to be important, but then it is brought up only once, and never again. It's just the (corvid) bird stones (from the crown? So what's the significance of the "magical crown" itself?) containing the white raven's magic that are presented as the ultimate power for the magical girls, and they are what drives what plot there is.

The girls' individual powers aren't fully utilised, either. Especially not at the anticlimactic ending. Some of their potentially very useful powers are outright forgotten about. Felicity's mind reading abilities? Never brought up again after it is introduced. Emily's glamour to make her look like different people? Same. It's not mentioned again. She makes duplicates of people, and shows illusions and flashbacks (I think?), and that's it for her usefulness, except in the costume department.

Even the action scenes are badly edited and confusing. For example, before the first major battle, taking place in the mansion, and out of the secret dissimulation headquarters - a major battle where the magical bird girls first let their powers combine/combine their W.I.T.C.H. Guardian powers/do a Power of Three spell/form a Sailor Senshi group attack on the bizarre snake man - Anne falls through a door and lands somewhere outside. She says, "What happened? Where am I?"... None of those questions are ever answered. The next time we see Anne is four pages later, where she is suddenly inside the mansion again and is attacking the snake man with her whirlwind of ravens, with no indication, no explanation, of how she got there, or where she'd been.

What is with these decisions? Was the comic made up via mad libs as it went along?

Oh. I almost forgot: There's a scant-existing side romance between Anne and Jenny's brother, Michael. They see each other once, and boom, instant attraction. It's as generic and unnecessary as you can get. Nothing would be lost if it was cut.

The possible development of Michael finding out about the girls' dissimulation is dropped and goes nowhere, further cementing his character's pointlessness.

On a related note, 'Conspiracy of Ravens' has no overt LBGTQ+ representation in the slightest. This modern, magical girl power graphic novel has nothing sapphic in it. How disappointing. I shake my head and wag my finger at 'Conspiracy of Ravens' for its generic, safe mediocrity.

Not helping the meagre diverse rep is Felicity, the only POC character in the whole book, and she's the spoiled mean girl and steadfastly reluctant outsider of the magical girl group. We never see her wear Emily's costume; Emily makes her one, it is in a box... that never opens. We never see it! It's yet another detail that's forgotten about. Sucks for Felicity to be the odd duck out of the flock!

Okay, now onto the positives:

The artwork is nice, cute, and serviceable, with its blue, white and black colour scheme. Though the action scenes are often drawn as haphazardly and half-arsedly as the plotting, and whilst reading, sometimes I couldn't tell the characters apart.

My favourite character is Eve, the dissimulation's housekeeper/butler/driver/information automaton. She's hilarious, upbeat, smiley, and interesting, with an interesting history, as she's worked for the past dissimulation. Pity that not a lot of that history is revealed to the reader. Eve is supposedly an emotionless android, programmed to perform the bare minimum, a glorified maidservant, but she clearly cares for the girls and their wellbeing, as well as taking care to keep the secret of the dissimulation safe. The inclusion of a running gag where Eve is a fast and reckless driver of a very old car makes her stand out exceptionally. It says a lot about the other characters that she is the best and most developed one.

Wait--wait a minute - how the hell can another dissimulation automaton character, Crow, visit one of the girls in her dreams? Is it magic? When Crow's entire character is trying not to use magic? WAIT--SHE WORKS FOR COLONEL BARNABUS?! SINCE WHEN? HOW?! WHY?!

AAAARRRGGHHH!!!!!!!

My head hurts when I try to make sense - and heads, tails and wings - of this comic.

Every little, forgotten and abandoned detail in it makes my face flush in indignation. Like, on the first page, why is Binky so flippant about mock exams? She's on a scholarship, she should feel the pressure; feel compelled to take all schoolwork seriously and study harder than anyone! And why does she talk about Anne having an awesome private tutor? We never see that tutor, and, you guessed it, it is not brought up again.

So much happens, and details, big and small, about the magical girls' personal lives are revealed. But they are arbitrary, and mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, and by the end of the comic. Resolutions to problems are either rushed, or are made nonexistent. So they don't flesh anything or anyone out properly. They are erroneously wiped clean from the slate.

As far as anyone knows, the small comic is a standalone, so the excuse of "It'll come up and be developed and possibly resolved in the sequel", doesn't cut it.

It seems the writers hardly cared.

'Conspiracy of Ravens' is an underdeveloped, frustrating mess.

I don't like to negatively criticise and put down another content creator's hard work, which managed to get published - by a big, renowned publisher like Dark Horse Comics, no less. That's a miracle in of itself. But I'm sorry, I have to be honest. I find 'Conspiracy of Ravens' to be not very well executed in its premise, and it screams wasted opportunity and potential. The planning and plotting are confusing, capricious, helter-skelter, and erratic, and most of the characters are unmemorable, underdeveloped, unsolid, airy-fairy, and bland.

Sadly, this Magical GirlTM product is a dud to me.

I could end this review on an Edgar Allan Poe quote, or a mention of the ever-classic "Nevermore". However, since 'Conspiracy of Ravens' in fact has nothing to do with everyone's favourite gothic poet, I won't bother.

It'll be me alone, Artemis Crescent, Magical GirlTM connoisseur - cackling, cawing and crowing, not screeching, screaming or crying, as it's not worth it - using my depleting critiquing powers, and magical stone and crystal powers, and finally, tapping out.

I am free. As a bird, a raven, in the night sky, the crescent moon and stars behind me.

Final Score: 2/5